August 31, 2016

Greek and Roman Architecture

An attempt to write a summary of Western Architectural History in three paragraphs:

The Acropolis in Athens, history.com

In architecture, most
everything grows from something else…or in reaction to something else. Usually you can follow architectural structural
design from one culture to another in a line.

Unfortunately, there is a break between the, “architecture of the Mycenaean
culture and Minoan cultures” to that of the ancient Greeks. “The techniques and an understanding of these
styles were lost when these civilizations fell.”(1) No straight line here though stylistically
some of the Minoan design elements carried forward.

Greek
architecture offers a straight line, and is divided into two periods: Hellenic
then Hellenistic. Towns grew around pillared
temples, with marble amphitheaters and shopping areas. Their architecture inspired the Romans to adopt,
“The external language of classicalGreek architecture…for their purposes. The two styles are often considered one body ofclassical
architecture.”(1)

In the 3rd
century BC, Roman architecture changed with the, “Roman Architectural
Revolution, also known as the Concrete
Revolution.” With the use of
concrete now the Roman architecture could expand with the use “of the
previously little-used architectural forms of the arch, vault, and dome. For the first time in history, their potential was
fully exploited in the construction of a wide range of civil engineering
structures, public buildings, and military facilities. These included amphitheatres, aqueducts,baths, bridges, circuses, dams, domes, harbours, and temples.” (2)

Which leads us past the
Romans to the blocky and solid Romanesque then the soaring Gothic which evolved
from it…one of those straight lines. These two styles were followed by “Renaissance
architecture, a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material
culture.” Stylistically, Renaissance
architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture.”(3) Suddenly, ornament became all.